County’s Delegates Energized

They had been building toward this moment all week.

Wearing campaign buttons and waving Al Gore pennants, Ventura County delegates to the Democratic National Convention joined more than 4,000 others Thursday in asking the vice president to seek the top job at the White House.

The nomination capped a four-day binge of caucusing and campaigning staged by Democrats to officially launch Gore’s presidential bid.

But it also provided an opportunity for local delegates to explore issues they care about and press their own agendas with politicians and policymakers from across the nation.

“I’m blown away,” said Ventura County Democratic leader Hank Lacayo, standing knee-deep in red, white and blue balloons still cascading to the convention floor.

“You can’t help but feel the energy surging through your veins, and I think we’re all coming back with our batteries charged,” he said. “Now the real work begins, but we’re not just hitting the ground running, we’re flying.”

For Ventura County Democrats, the work begins immediately.

Members of the county’s Democratic Central Committee will meet Saturday to dissect the convention and map a strategy for pushing Democrats into office.

That gives Camarillo delegate Sharon Hillbrant only a day to type notes--written in longhand on every scrap of paper she could find--for her official convention report to the committee.

“Our duty is to go back and push the issues. We can’t let this become some kind of personality contest,” she said. “We need to take that message back to our constituents and get ready to work harder than we ever have before.”

Of course, not every minute of the past four days has been devoted to drudgery.

There have been more dinner parties and luncheons and breakfasts than delegates could stomach.

Oxnard delegate Marilyn Valenzuela, executive secretary and treasurer of the Tri-Counties Central Labor Council, attended the California delegation’s daily breakfast Thursday, a combination strategy session and pep rally pumped up by the likes of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy from Massachusetts and San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown.

Valenzuela said she was looking forward to Gore’s speech, but not the all-night party that would inevitably follow.

“The laborers can go all week,” she groaned. “But I’m only married to a laborer and I need my eight hours sleep.”

State Democratic Party Chairman Art Torres opened Thursday’s breakfast meeting by introducing several dignitaries in the room, including Ventura attorney Michael Case.

Case is challenging incumbent Congressman Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley) in the 23rd Congressional District, which includes all of Ventura County except for the Conejo Valley.

Case, however, wasn’t planning to stick around for Gore’s acceptance speech.

“They don’t elect congressmen here, they elect presidents,” said Case, pleased with his brief exposure at the national event.

“I can’t get votes here,” he said, “but I can get the support of people who could be important to my campaign.”

Case wasn’t the only one to capture a moment in the national spotlight.

State Sen. Jack O’Connell (D-San Luis Obispo), an at-large delegate to the convention, said he was shown for a few seconds on CNN while standing in the receiving line Wednesday during Gore’s arrival at the Burbank Airport.

“It helps to be 6-4,” the rangy state senator said.

And Port Hueneme delegate Adele Rosenbluth was featured Thursday morning during a spot on National Public Radio on vice presidential nominee Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut.

“I’m totally behind Gore and Lieberman and I’m so energized by this whole thing,” Rosenbluth said.

“The important thing now is to go back to the grass-roots people and get that message out.”

Now that the speeches have ended and the balloons have fallen, Lacayo said the work is only beginning.

There is a long way to go between now and November, and Lacayo said as chairman of the county’s Democratic Central Committee it’s his job to make sure the party faithful remain energized.

“Al and Joe are going to go all the the way to the White House,” he said, repeating the chant launched by delegates during Gore’s acceptance speech. “And we in Ventura County are going to help make that happen.”